Obamas’ tax return shows income drop to less than half in 2010 than 2009

Washington, Apr 18 (ANI): Income for US President Barack Obama and his family dropped to 1,728,096 dollars in 2010, almost less than half of 5.5 million dollars he earned in 2009.

Most of their income reportedly came from the sale of his books “Dreams From My Father” and “The Audacity of Hope.”

The Obamas paid 453,770 dollars in federal taxes, for an effective tax rate of just over 26 percent, the top individual tax rate is 35 percent, The New York Times reports.

There are reports that the Obamas have donated 245,075 dollars, 14.2 percent of their income before tax deductions and exemptions, to 36 charities.

The paper quoted the White House as saying that over half of it was given to their favourite charity, the Fisher House Foundation, which benefits families of fallen and disabled soldiers.

Separately, the Obamas had also paid 51,568 dollars in state income taxes to Illinois.

Contrasting his vision for reducing the growth of deficits with that of Congressional Republicans, who favour additional tax cuts and would transform and more sharply reduce projected spending for Medicare and Medicaid, Obama said: “They want to give people like me a 200,000 dollars tax cut that’s paid for by asking 33 seniors to each pay 6,000 dollars more in health costs? That’s not right, and it’s not going to happen as long as I am president.”

Of the Obamas’ income, nearly 400,000 dollars was from his salary as president. Their 1.7 million dollars adjusted gross income was down from 5.5 million dollars in 2009 and 2.7 million dollars in 2008. In those years, too, royalties from his first two books accounted for the bulk of the earnings. (ANI)